What besides tipping and souvies are expected costs?

[chibichibirei]

For our honeymoon next year we are going to go on our first Disney cruise *my first cruise ever* Ive looked around and see info on tipping, but besides that and the obvious souvieners what kinda money should we plan on bringing along, for the cruise portion of the trip? We are going to do the 3 night land and the 4 night sea option with the Romance package added on. Thanks for your help

 

[dairyou]

Depending on what you like doing this is where we spend our money:

drinks (especially the bon voyage) My kids like this drink too...virgin of course.
the arcade...I have kids
bingo
excursions...probably the most costly

There's probably more that I can't think of...though it shows easily on our bill at the end of the cruise

Deb

 

[AlexandNessa]

It will totally depend on what you plan on doing and how much you plan on doing it! For example, if you, like us, enjoy your fair share of cocktails on the cruise, we find that this is usually our major expense. Spa treatments and photos from the ship's photographer would also be extra as well as any shore excursions you might charge to your on-board account. Laundry and Internet access would be other charges.

We tend to be free spenders while on vacation, and even more so when we travel with friends and family. Our record on-board account is holding at $1600 for a 7-day cruise for just the 2 of us. That's fairly high if you consider that doesn't include the $300 ship board credit we had (Holland America, not DCL). We've gotten a **little** better with that, but not much . If you don't do much of what I've stated above, you can get away with spending close to nothing on your cruise (except for what you've already stated: tips and souvies).

BTW, happy honeymoon!

 

[aprilgail2]

It all depends...you see some people manage to get by with 500.00...others are closer to 2500....I usually end up with 1000-1500 extra on top of the cruise for thing I do in port, pictures on the ship, room service tips, baggage handler tips..etc.

 

[StuartMI]

PHOTOS! There was a thread on this recently that discussed the different packages available, etc. Needless to say they aren't cheap. Spa treatments are the other big ticket one, as well as salon treatments. DW got the seaweed wrap, as well as manicure, and pedicure, and we both had the spa taster with our REAS package, and I had reflexology. Even with the package, I'd say we probably spent upwards of $500 to $600 on photos and spa treatments combined.

So, this October we aren't doing any spa treatments and will likely only buy photos that are good shots of both of us with characters...

Good luck!

 

[chibichibirei]

Wow thank you everyone, I know I'll spend probably way too much money but I'm just so excited! now we just need to book the cruise here really soon.

 

[PoohJen]

Have a great time!

I came out on the lean side of things...

what we spent extra on:

- spa (we did the REAS, nothing extra)
- excursions
- $42 at St. Maarten's (for family of 5!) for water tramp, lounge/umbrella, and jet ski, and a beer (oh yeah, $7 for a pareo from a beach vendor and about $15 for the water taxi)
- $$ for liquor on St. Thomas to bring back to US
- bingo 3x. (but I won big!!!! that's the key! }
- photos; about $50?? we bought Christmas Card photos (annoying thing about that is you also have to buy the 8x10 of whatever pic you use on the Christmas Card)
- souveniers - pins and DCL beach towel

What I didn't spend:
NO arcade for the kids! (if I tell them to bring their own $$, suddenly they're not so interested! ]

Drinks: We brought our own "beverages". But with the ship rocking (even though i didn't feel sick) and the forever "full" feeling from eating so much all week, I had maybe two wine coolers all week! And I planned on having a "Drink of the Day" every day, but it didn't happen! (now, of course, for honeymooners lounging by the adult pool, you may be more inclined!)

Biggest expense: the $6000 I spent booking the NEXT cruise while on board!

Happy Honeymoon!!!

 

[jjgarv]

My DH and I also honeymooned on the Magic for 4 days (back in 2000) and then spent 3 days at the Wilderness Lodge. That honeymoon is still one of the best vacations we've had together! We spent about $700 on board the ship. We both got massages at the spa (about $200 for both), went on an excursion to Atlantis in the Bahamas, bought pictures (at least 5) from Shutters, bought souvenirs (sweatshirts, Christmas ornament, and gifts for nephews/nieces), and had several drinks/glasses of wine per day. We've been on two more Disney cruises since then (with two more planned), and we always seem to spend about $700-800, even on the 7-day cruises. HTH

Have a wonderful honeymoon!

Jennifer

 

[jrabbit]

What can you spend money on onboard?

Family of 4 on a seven night cruise will generate a "standard" gratuity of about $305. If the family of 4 goes on a 4 night cruise the gratuity would be about $175. Some people don't tip (don't go there ). Some just the standard, some a little more and some tip a LOT more :yes:: yes the service is THAT good).

If you go to Palo there is a service charge of $10 per person. You should tip above this service charge for "using the room" Some people kick in an extra $10 per person, others have said that they've tipped $100 -- Wow!!

Room service is free for most items on the menu (sodas and some items you have to pay for). Be sure to tip your "server" or is it runner in this case. DCL has reciently made it possible to tip your server on your KTTW card.

Room service There are items on the menu that Do carry a charge -soda and the other chargable beverages along with several food items.

You can purchase snacks at Preludes (outside of the Walt Disney Theater). There is candy and popcorn to buy.

Baskets and Cruise Gifts I don't know if you can order these once you are on board but you can most definately order them before your cruise. DCL includes a brochure with your cruise documents.

Depending upon the ages of your children (or if your DW is gosh darn beautiful ) Shutters may be a big ticket item. The 6x8 (small) photos are around $10 each. I don't remember how much the formal (large) photos are (maybe $20 each).

If you have a child that is not yet potty trained (and 3 or younger) you can "hire a babysitter" at Flounders. You are able to initally reserve 3 time slots for your child. Later in the cruise you can see if you can get any additional times (if you need more mommy and daddy private time ) This is different than the Club, Lab or the Stack / Aloft - which are included in your cruise fees for kids from age 3 to 17.

If you stick to the drink of the day, they will run you $3.50 each (which isn't too bad). Otherwise the prices go up from there (but still are not outrageous!!) Speciality Drinks - like coffees, smoothies etc carry a charge. Smoothies run about $5.00 each with manditory tip.

If you buy the wine package for dinner the cost is $185 to $250 depending upon the package purchased. If you buy wine by the bottle I believe you can count on $50 per bottle (but if you each only drink 1 glass each, it will last for two nights and your waiters will take care of it for you!)

There is also a "water package" that you can purchase for dinners. Why , I don't know, the water that the ship "makes" is wonderful.

Shore excursions really add up. Even if you do a "cheep" $45 excursion that's $180 for the family.

If you do the wine tasting class onboard there's a cost and I really don't know how much it is because I don't like wine that much.

Spa treatments run from $83 to well over $200 per person per treatment (count on at least $100 ).

Arcade cards for the kids. Denominations start at $10 and go up from there.

Now for the souvineers: you can get some small plastic figurine for $5. If you want a tee shirt, think at least $35, polo shirts are well over $50. A DCL frame for one of your 6x8 pictures will run you $18 to $20. Lots of fun stuff to buy for the whole family at Mickey's Mates. Then across the hall is the Treasure Ketch and that stuff is generally way more expensive!!

Then there's the "store" that's between Rock'n Bar D and Diversions on the Magic (its in the same location on the Wonder-just different Club Names) that sells tobaco and alcohol products. I believe that any alcohol you purchase CAN NOT be consumed onboard. They will deliver it to you close to disembarkation time.

Some people have a Bingo habit that costs them a ton of $$$$. I believe that it's $35 for 5 or 6 games. Haven't done it so I really don't know. I probably will be giving it a go at the end of the repo cruise - the jackpot is going to be HUGE!!

Hairbrading onboard has a per braid charge.

Landry: You’ll need money if you plan on using the Self Service Landry’s on the ship. You'll need even more money if you use the onboard Landry and Pressing service that DCL offers!

Other people have talked about spending money onshore. Unless its at Castaway Cay, thats a different bill from your onboard account.

I think thats all of the areas that you can spend money ON the ship.

 

[MickeyAnne]

I just got back from doing the exact same trip as you (I'm totally jonesing for more of that Mickey Magic by the way). First of all, its a great trip so just have tons of fun!

Next, to answer your question - between DBF and I, we spent 600 dollars onboard. Besides the obvious tips and souveneirs (they have such great things I am lucky that I didn't just go broke in the gift shops) the only other things that we spent money on were alcoholic drinks (from $3 - $8 each), a few snacks at Preludes (candy popcorn etc. - you know the unnecessary stuff ) and last but DEFINTELY not least, we dropped alot of dough at shutters. I came home with 4 8x10 photos and 10 6x8 photos and that came to $180.00. Although there are not as many photos taken of couples as their are of families with children, the ones they do take (find photographers on Castaway Cay and all over the ship) are GORGEOUS and irresistable. Take advantage of their portraits on a nightly basis, its a bit costy but worth it I think.

Other then that, we only spent about $30.00 in Nassau as we only debarked for about 45 minutes (we didn't feel that it was necessary to hang out any longer then that).

Have a blast!

 

[chibichibirei]

Thanks for the great advice everyone, I told my DF and he was like were not spending 1000 on board, were gonna spend 3000 But alas he was just joking